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Hifi Fitness Factory. Chicago, IL

There are many well-known advanced training protocols available to serious weightlifters, athletes, and bodybuilders. Some have yet to be proven through evidence based research and others are more about marketing than science. There are also those which have proven themselves to be tried and true, providing results over the decades. They are worthy of the most elite training programs around the world, and offer suffer the flattery of imitation. I decided that the end of the rowing season was the right time to pick one to follow and set up a resistance program for the winter. 

I wanted to try something that had been proven to be effective, would be a significant challenge, and that I had never done before. What better way to screen an approach for use with future clients than to run myself through it? I looked at several well known protocols which have piquing my curiosity over the years and selected what some consider the king of muscle building routines. German Volume Training.

Based on the research I have done so far, German Volume Training is not something that is easily traced back to a specific individual; unlike today’s celebrity workouts no one patented German Volume Training. According to the Charles Poliquin website, it is named after its origin in the 1970’s on the German national weightlifting team under the coaching of Rolf Feser. Vince Gironda is also given credit for popularizing a similar training protocol in the US. It is given much credit for the performance of Germany's Olympic teams of that time period.

So what is it?

GVT calls for a very basic split, and incredibly minimalist workout plans. Oh, so German! (I was sold.) Each workout calls for one exercise per bodypart. That's it. The trick is you perform it for 10 sets of 10 reps. A total of 100 reps per exercise, which is why there are so few in a workout!

Naturally, the exercises must be selected to activate the largest amount of muscle mass, and should be as structural as possible. Emphasis should be given to multi-joint movements; this is not a program based on muscular isolation. Over the course of the program I will be altering the angles of the exercises, swapping similar exercises, and alternating between barbells and dumbbells. It would be foolish to do 100 reps of a flat bench press for 12 weeks, the risk of muscle imbalances and overuse would be too great.

Resistance loads are relatively light, starting as low as 50-60% 1RM. Prescribed increases are also smaller than usual 2.5 - 5% per week, but given the volumes lifted, that seems only natural. I will put together a post when I have completed the 12 week program summarizing my findings. I will be honest. If it sucks I will tell you, and if I suck at it, I will let you know!

So sit back and get ready.

It is about to get Germanic around here.